I don't think they got a very fair deal

Mr. Manderfeld reflects on the treaties made between the Dakota and U.S. government in 1851 at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota.

Audio Chapters

Chapter 1

DL: What do you think about the treaties?

WM: Oh that, I don’t think they got a very fair deal. They could have given them a better deal than just so many acres on each side of the river. Well, there was nothing that they could… Oh sure they could have lived the way they would have been [living], but then to provide for their families they would have needed more land eventually. But then I guess the Germans and them, they came over they did try… That would have been before the uprising. They tried to teach them how to farm and raise stuff too. Because before that I’m sure they just lived off the land – hunting I suppose mostly

Cite
Willard Manderfeld. "I don't think they got a very fair deal." https://www3.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/contributors/willard-manderfeld/1539
Print This Page
copy-right-img

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Copyright and Use Information.

Oral History- Interview | Narrator Willard Manderfeld Interviewer Deborah Locke made in New Ulm, MN | Thursday, August 11, 2011
Read or listen to entire Oral History

Citation: Minnesota Historical Society. U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. I don't think they got a very fair deal. May 23, 2025.